RF-05 — Quote append does not preserve grounding warrant

State: open
Repair shape: policy/ADR correction, then freshness implementation
Severity: high
Depends on: RF-04

Finding

ADR 073 permits overlapping and disputed retained passages, yet says appending quotes is safe without staling an accepted grounding review. Append-only byte growth is monotone storage; epistemic support is not monotone. A later passage can contradict, narrow, or contextualize the passage on which the old verdict rested.

Evidence

• ADR 073's quote rules permit disputed passages without reconciliation.
• The same ADR declares quote append safe without staleness.
• The grounding gate evaluates source scope and inference, not merely whether one supporting substring remains present.

Why it matters

The mutation rule can preserve an old PASS after the retained source context has become materially less supportive. This is a direct mismatch between the claimed warrant and the admitted data state.

Provisional repair direction

Remove the blanket safety claim. Make quote-section changes freshness inputs, or give retained passages stable identities and bind each review to the exact passage set it considered. Decide separately how disputed passages trigger reconciliation.

Done when

• ADR 073 and the grounding gate state one consistent mutation/freshness rule.
• Appending counterevidence cannot leave an old grounding verdict silently current.
• Tests cover supportive, qualifying, and contradictory append cases.